Update the Leave is fully cancelled and no chance of getting it bk!

[tinkerpea]

Hi all I know alot of you have been following my earlier thread about my Dh leave being cancelled and the fact I went to the Padre to see if anything could be done since we had such a rough 2 years with my being very sick!

Well.......I heard last night from the Padre that he tried EVERYTHING and that Dh commanding officer has said they just CAN NOT do without him as they will be under manned.
The padre has said he is not happy with this outcome and that we could push higher but it could result in being very lengthy and still get no leave!We decided that we are going to have to just concentrate on my Op as its on the 27th so not far off now and we want something booked before then "I need to have something to look forward to"

Our choice now is from the 5th of October.
I have checked out flights and they are INSANE prices plus we have to pay the £120pp to change the date and any extra cost for the flight increase Also they have limited number of rooms at SSR for those dates we may have to move for some of the trip and that will cost £££ plus NO DDP for some of the trip GRRRR
November is alot cheaper flight price wise and at the moment will only cost the £120pp to change as the flight is actually cheaper then the one we have paid for (not sure how long that will last as they go up daily)

We are not sure we can afford the Ocotber flight without a credit card the Pdre has set up a meeting to see if we can recover the flight costs.

We are seeing what our insurance can do but either way they wont pay out on my mums as she lives in a seperate household great little get out claus huh!

Anyways Im gutted and really upset I had half prepared myself but having to cancel all my ADRs that where special to us and not being there for our wedding anniversary is so upsetting for me as its where we was married!!

 

[wilma-bride]

At least you know for definite now and can move on and reorganise your holiday. Try to look on the positive side of it now and make the best of what you have

 

[london75]

Does travel insurance cover anything like this? Is it better to fully cancel than pay amendment fees?

 

[bex7583]

aww im proper gutted for you !! im a strop coz i cant book so to have had everything booked and then this happen must be the worst thing

at least ure kids dont know the plans so they r non the wiser good look recoupng some of the costs back ;( hope u dont end up too badly out of pocket

but you will have a fantastic time whatever month you go, why dont u renew your vows when ure there tto make up for missing the officail anniversary

good luck with ure op too xx

 

[loobzuk]

aww so sorry to hear the outcome of your meeting, it sounds as though the Padre tried his best for you. I can't begin to imagine your disappointment and having to cancel all the things you had planned. I hope you are able to rebook something before your op so that you do have something to look forward to (and, on a positive note, at least you will have longer to fully recover). Good luck with your meeting about possibly recouping the flight costs. I hope you enjoy planning your new holiday.

 

[Tony Toon]

So sorry to hear this. Life just isn't fair sometimes.

Hope you're able to sort out something to look forward to later in the year.

Mrs TT

 

[stephensmum]

Sorry to hear this, you must be so disappointed. It seems so unfair, just hope that they will pay for the extra fees, is it likely?

Trying to look at it positively, you will have more recovery time & if you choose Nov, you will get to see the Christmas Decs. Really hope they will stump up the extra charges and you can start planning again.

 

[tinkerpea]

Thanks for the replies Ive been physically sick most of the day.

I just cant bring myself to cancel the ADR's yet as it will make it all so final!!

I cant get excited about rebooking as we have to find the money 1st we have around £1000 that can go towards it but im worrying so much about a number of things,
Like...
The weather for swimming no matter how much people say it can be nice and you can swim I know it has to be pretty warm for me to get in the water and I cant imagine a 3 wk holiday with NO water parks,"what would we do instead" only so many park days and shoping you can fit in,I mean i love to shop (so does my mum) but we are used to having waterpark rest days

Seats on the flight,This is really worrying me I had pre-booked 3 rows of 2 on the airbus so each child had a window seat and my son wouldnt be able to kick a strangers seat (he is autistic) also booked these seats so he would not be in the middle seats of the plane as he wont cope with that,now im worried all the window seats on the 747 will be booked up!! we could do twilight check in if we have to or of course online but im a worrier and like to have it done.

Then theres the whole damn ADR thing! I booked all my really important ADRs at the 180 point and secured EVERYTHING we wanted so to not get them is another blow to the system.

 

[2Tiggies]

First of all

I'm really sorry you have this to deal with on top of everything else you've had to face recently.

Now: deep breath

Once you have taken that step to cancel your ADRs you may feel better than you think. In my view, hanging on to hope that isn't there is just prolonging the agony of the situation. And there may be others who would desperately love some of those ressies you have so you will be doing something to make someone else's day

Swimming: depending when you decide to go, you should still be able to enjoy the water parks and some pool time. We have been in October and it's been plenty warm enough to do water parks and I am also one who won't get into a pool unless it's HOT outside. It sounds like you associate your down time and rest days with being at the pool. While you can still do this, is there anything you never get round to doing that you would like to do that could be worked into rest time? It's easy to get into the habit of doing things the same way year after year just because by association, it fits, but there usually alternatives/extras that could be incorporated to mix things up a bit.

If you need a window seat for your son, have you thought about contacting the airline and explaining his special needs? They all cater for special needs, some more than others, but its worth considering.

Finally, back to the ADRs, they are not always as hard to get as people make them out to be. Sure, you need to book ahead a far as you can to secure exactly what you want, but if you are willing to be flexible on mealtimes and days to some extend, you will greatly increase your chances. There is a thread on the Restaurants board where people post if they are going to cancel one so that if you want it, you can get online and have a better chance of grabbing it when it opens up.


With all that said, I think after the day you've had, you may be best to try distract yourself with something else for now or preferably try and get some rest

 

[DisMadWife]

We have travelled many times with our two autistic children and each time the airling special assistance have been very helpful in assisting us to make our flight as stress free as possible so I am sure if you call them they will make sure you get the seating configuration you need.
Sorry this is happening to you and I hope that if you sort out some of the issues it will not feel quite so stressful to you.

 

[zippy99]

As 2tiggies says with the restaurants we booked in March and did not make any reservations till late April.

I was able to get the California Grill at at 7.30ish so we can eat then watch Wishes on our last night (no compromise made - i got the date (2nd Sep)and time I wanted)

We also decided that on our first night at Disney we wanted to do Rose and Crown at 8pm so we could watch Illuminations- (in fact this was a last minute booking done in May) again no problem getting what we wanted on 25th Aug and it was a Saturday too!

Hopefully it won't be too bad.

 

[Kath2003]

ADRs...haven't made many ever...we just turn up. Never been turned away, sometimes had to wait half an hour. This is during peak season (summer/Easter). I wouldn't let some dinner reservations influence your decision. Once you know your dates you can prioritise your "must do" meals and fit the rest around those.

 

[Dimplenose]

I am so sorry that your plans have been messed up. But as has previously been said you must look on the positive side.

I can't advise when to go as I've only been in August but do choose your dates soon as then you can get into proper planning mode.

Use the extra time to recover from your operation and be fighting fit for your holiday whenever it happens.

Thinking of you,

 

[tinkerpea]

First of all

I'm really sorry you have this to deal with on top of everything else you've had to face recently.

Now: deep breath

Once you have taken that step to cancel your ADRs you may feel better than you think. In my view, hanging on to hope that isn't there is just prolonging the agony of the situation. And there may be others who would desperately love some of those ressies you have so you will be doing something to make someone else's day

Swimming: depending when you decide to go, you should still be able to enjoy the water parks and some pool time. We have been in October and it's been plenty warm enough to do water parks and I am also one who won't get into a pool unless it's HOT outside. It sounds like you associate your down time and rest days with being at the pool. While you can still do this, is there anything you never get round to doing that you would like to do that could be worked into rest time? It's easy to get into the habit of doing things the same way year after year just because by association, it fits, but there usually alternatives/extras that could be incorporated to mix things up a bit.

If you need a window seat for your son, have you thought about contacting the airline and explaining his special needs? They all cater for special needs, some more than others, but its worth considering.

Finally, back to the ADRs, they are not always as hard to get as people make them out to be. Sure, you need to book ahead a far as you can to secure exactly what you want, but if you are willing to be flexible on mealtimes and days to some extend, you will greatly increase your chances. There is a thread on the Restaurants board where people post if they are going to cancel one so that if you want it, you can get online and have a better chance of grabbing it when it opens up.


With all that said, I think after the day you've had, you may be best to try distract yourself with something else for now or preferably try and get some rest

Thankyou so so much for this post! I spent all of yesterday trying to forget about the whole thing cancelled half the ADR's "as i was hoping if we book it would be from the 12th" went for lunch with my Dh after my pre op at the hospital,then went home and slept for the afternoon!

Dh came home at 5.30 and said he had emailed Virgin after I posted on a Virgin wall on fbook days ago! somebody replied on fbook that worked for Virgin and told him to send the details over he did just this and they replied with........... We have taken the fee's off for you as this was beyound your control due to the Military( we had been told by Virgin before that there was nothing they could do).

So we then called up Virgin to see what prices flights was and for some reason the flight from the 8th October was only going to cost us £752 for all of us to fly!!! we asked her to hold that while we called Disney to see if accomadation was available and YEP it was so we booked our SSR room and called bk the flights and BOOKED!!!

So we are at Disney fro 15 nights from the 8th october then Universal/international drive for 6 nights just need to figure out where.

Virgin also pre booked our window seats for each child plus its on the airbus too so we are 2,2,2 configuration which we was hoping to get!

so thanks as I would have just kept beating myself up and it was only when i told Dh i couldnt keep doingit to myself that he thought Ill give Virgin one last shot!

 

[Lisa x]

That's brilliant news! So glad you got it all sorted!

October is by far my most favourite time of year to go! We got married on 8th October 2009 in Orlando and it was a scorcher, probably late 90's! It was for the whole 2 weeks we were there!

Glad Virgin understood your situation and didnt add any extra stress

 

[TheFram4]

I am so so pleased for you tinkerpea
- I agree that October is a far better time to go than August, we are stuck with august due to kids age. I think the temperature is far better, on average more like a hot summer day in the UK with low humidity, and certainly comfortable for swimming.
I have always been loyal to virgin and am so pleased they have come through for you

 

[DisFanJen]

I've been following your previous threads on how this has been going but I haven't posted until now as there's really been nothing I could add.

However I just wanted to say that I'm so glad you got this all sorted.

I also think you'll have a great time as I think September\October is a much better time than August to go. Warm but not scorching. F&WF MNSSHP, it's a great time to go.

You just concentrate on the op now and try not to worry any more.

I'll be flying home with VA on the 9th of Oct so we'll be on our way back home the day after you settle in.

Hey, you never know, maybe we could hook up for a chat at Beaches and Cream.

 

[stephensmum]

Fantastic news. It's good to know that Virgin went that extra mile for you. Now you can focus on the operation knowing that you have your holiday back to recuperate. Good wishes to you & your family.

 

[Tony Toon]

We're thrilled you have managed to get things sorted out. It's amazing that sometimes when things are at their lowest, with seemingly nowhere else to go, that something comes along, in this case 2Tiggies post (well done to you), and those clouds just roll away - or at least part sufficiently for you to see daylight again.

I would endorse those who say that October is a lovely time to go. Certainly warm enough to visit the water parks without the oppressive humidity and the daily thunder storms of mid summer.

MR TT.

 

[tinkerpea]

I've been following your previous threads on how this has been going but I haven't posted until now as there's really been nothing I could add.

However I just wanted to say that I'm so glad you got this all sorted.

I also think you'll have a great time as I think September\October is a much better time than August to go. Warm but not scorching. F&WF MNSSHP, it's a great time to go.

You just concentrate on the op now and try not to worry any more.

I'll be flying home with VA on the 9th of Oct so we'll be on our way back home the day after you settle in.

Hey, you never know, maybe we could hook up for a chat at Beaches and Cream.

Thankyou so much,

My dh has now said that Im allowed a few days to do ADRs and then i have to shut off and rest until after Bless him he has felt like this was all is fault and has been in bits to think it was his work that added so much hurt and stress,

Would be more then happy to meet at Beaches and Cream we have never been but Love that board walk area and I actually said to my family we will definatly have to go this time